Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Synopsis: “Probationary
Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan
Police. Too bad his superior plans to
assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is
a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects
change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive
information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering
dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas
Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations
of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal
and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods
and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on
a rising tide of magic.”

Review: Ben
Aaronovitch wrote for Dr. Who. Is it any
wonder that this is a brilliant story with engaging characters? I would like to be able to say that this is
why I purchased Midnight Riot. I am
(newly, within the last 6 months or so) a huge Dr. Who fan. However, I sadly did not realize that Ben
Aaronovitch had written for Dr. Who until after I had already started reading
this novel.

The
character of Peter Grant is very human, and easy to like. He’s just a normal guy, with a normal life,
and then suddenly things aren’t so normal anymore when he begins to converse
with ghosts, and learn magic. Oh yeah,
and people are dying, loads of people; and Peter has to figure out why so he
can stop a killer. Aaronovitch does a
good job bringing the characters to life and helping his readers become
invested in the story. I’m running out
tomorrow on my way home from work to buy the next book in the Rivers of London series.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

This weeks Feature & Follow asks the question: Do you have any pets? Show and/or tell.

I have 2 cats. Both of my cats were rescues, kittens that people abandoned on the road that leads to the farm where I grew up. These people must have been ignorant of the dangers that farm equipment and large farm animals represent to cats that are not familiar with the territory. But they are both safe now, and forever. Tempest Wicked Meow-Meow is 5 years old and weighs 9 lbs. She is the household queen and oversees everything that happens within the apartment. Heaven help the person that closes the door when using the bathroom; she will whine, scratch and leap at the door until it opens. Seriously, just let her go in with you. She is shy with strangers though, so if you come to visit she will probably hide under the covers on the bed until you leave.

Tempest Wicked Meow-Meow

Spooky Boo Meow-Meow is 1 and 1/2 years old and weighs close to 20 lbs. It's okay though. He is not obese and his health is fine, he is just a very large cat. He is the most laid-back and chill cat I have ever met. He loves to sit in the apartment windows and watch everything that happens outside. Just lately he has also become very fond of laps. He loves everybody and has the softest fur you will ever pet.

Spooky Boo Meow-Meow

I also have a Society Finch named Trekkie. As you can imagine he's kind of hard to get a picture of because finches are very small birds and quicker than you would think. He makes happy noises all day from his cage atop one of the many bookcases in the living room and loves lettuce.

Please take a minute to say HI! And follow my blog. I will be having a giveaway when BookGirl's BookNook reaches 100 followers!

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”

Synopsis: “The
facility lay deep in Appalachian Mountains, a secret laboratory called
Coldbrook. Its scientists had achieved
the impossible: a gateway to a new world.
Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but
they had no idea what they were unleashing.
With their breakthrough comes disease.
Billions are dead yet still walking.
The only hope is a cure, and the only cure is genetic immunity. In the chaos of destruction there is one
person that can save the human race. But
will they find her in time?”

Review: I needed a
new book to read. My to-be-read pile still has
about 20 books in it; but none of them were what I wanted at the time. Plus I was stressed, and when I’m stressed I
go book shopping*. I found
Coldbrook. At first I failed to notice
the red eyes on the shadowy figure on the cover. I purchased this book because it’s by Tim
Lebbon and the blurb on the front cover caught my interest. The blurb reads “Will a door to another earth
mean the end for this one?” and my first thought was, “It wouldn’t be much fun
if it didn’t”. So that, combined with
the fact that this is a big book (509 pages) and therefore guaranteed to keep
me busy for a few days, prompted me to pick up Coldbrook. I did not realize until page 43 that this
was, in part, a zombie novel. At that
point I was thrilled, because I love a good zombie novel. I also felt very silly, because now when I
look at the dark, shadowy cover the red eyes are the first thing that I notice.

This book
was wonderful. It was just the novel I
needed to snap myself out of a stress filled haze in which barely any reading
was getting done. About halfway through
I realized that Lebbon was taking the story into a completely different place
than that which I had expected and that was thrilling. I was afraid for a while that it wasn’t going
to end in a satisfactory manner (for me), but at the end of the novel I was
pleased with how it all wrapped up. Coldbrook
was exciting, horrifying and thrilling.
I was reading every chance I got (although, when am I not?) and reached
the critical climax one day while reading on my break at work. I had to stop in the middle and go back to
work! It was horrible! I actually had a moment where I was sitting
in the breakroom debating just not going back to work until I was finished with
the novel. At that point it would have
been 20 more minutes tops! I think there
should be some sort of special allowances for this sort of thing. Perhaps I’ll speak to management about
instituting an extended break for special circumstances such as these.

If you
like horror and suspense read Coldbrook.
Zombies come through a portal from an alternate Earth and begin laying
waste to our world. There is death,
destruction, plane crashes and even a Speed-like bus chase. Tim Lebbon is an awesome storyteller and I
look forward to reading more from him.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Synopsis: “Fortitude Scott’s life is a mess. A degree in film theory has left him with
zero marketable skills, his job revolves around pouring coffee, his roommate
hasn’t paid rent in four months, and he’s also a vampire. Well, sort of. He’s still mostly human.

“But when
a new vampire comes into his family’s territory and young girls start going
missing, Fort can’t ignore his heritage anymore. His mother and his older, stronger siblings
think he’s crazy for wanting to get involved.
So it’s up to Fort to take action, with the assistance of Suzume Hollis,
a dangerous and sexy shape-shifter. Fort
is determined to find a way to out-smart the deadly vamp, even if he isn’t
quite sure how.

“But without
having matured into full vampirehood and with Suzume ready to split if things
get too risky, Fort’s rescue mission might just kill him…”

Review: My love of
reading comes from both of my parents.
My choice of genres comes from my Dad.
My brother and I shared a bedroom when we were young; and one of my
earliest memories is of Dad sitting between our beds, and reading to us aloud
from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Recently I have gotten Dad hooked on the urban fantasy genre. He reads Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia
Briggs, Charlaine Harris (he loves True Blood), and Kim Harrison. One of his biggest complaints however, is
that the best urban fantasy is about women.
He says that too many of the urban fantasy novels have female main
characters, where are the urban fantasy novels with male main characters. Well, I’ve got one for you Dad. And you should read the books I’ve listed
below as well.

This novel
was great. I picked up Generation V on a
whim. I hadn’t heard anything about
it. I just happened to see the second
book in the series on the shelf at Barnes and Noble, and after realizing it was
the second in a series I decided to buy Generation V first. I read it in a little bit more than two days,
but in my defense I had to work. I get
30 minutes for lunch at work every day and I always read while eating my
lunch. Today I was almost done with
Generation V when I realized it was time to go back to work. I seriously did not want to go and had to
force myself; promising that I would finish it as soon as I got home from work
today.

Fort is an awesome character
and Brennan has fleshed him out well. In
fact Brennan has fleshed out his secondary characters, and the world within the novel, so well that I want to
know more about them too. Fort’s
struggle with his job and his boss is something that many people can relate to,
as are his struggles with his family and personal relationships. Your family does not have to be a family of
blood drinking vampires for you to understand how forced the conversation at
dinner can be, or how hard it is to say no to a request to show up for dinner
with the family; and your girlfriend doesn’t have to be a cheating whore for
you to understand what it’s like to be confused and hurt by the opposite sex. The kitsune are a fun and interesting race
that don’t show up in very many other urban fantasy novels. I enjoyed Suzume’s interactions with Fort and
learning about her family. I was sucked
into the world that Brennan has built in Generation V immediately when I
started reading and was on the edge of my seat during Fort’s final showdown
with Luca.

As soon as my fiancé and I
have had dinner (homemade gluten free deep dish pizza tonight) I’m going to
Barnes and Noble to buy the next book in this series, Iron Night.

About Me

BookGirlR works full time in the world of retail, a dark and horrible place which crushes the spirit. To compensate, outside of work she surrounds herself with cats, books, wine and good friends. She was married to SuperSteve September 20th, 2014.

Disclaimer

All reviews are my honest opinion.I welcome differing viewpoints. I do not welcome the expectation that I live my life exactly like you do. Hostility of any kind is not accepted here. If you are offended, remember, no one forced you to read this.